The Missing Tool
by DonaldDouglasandToby6
Summary: When Rob Durham, a skilled worker at Ulfstead Castle, loses his clippers, Millie is determined to find it. But since she can't travel on standard gauge rails, she'll need help to do it.


One of many of Millie's jobs is to take groundsmen to make sure Ulfstead Castle looks the best possible.

Most of the time it's grooming the grounds of the estate.

The main groundsman in charge of this was Rob Durham.

Sir Robert Norramby really enjoys his design and his skill.

"Well done, Durham! You are truly an essence to my estate!" he says.

Rob Durham feels proud of this, and always tries to do a good job.

One day, Millie arrived at the castle station.

Samson was there with the groundsmen, who had arrived from a hotel at Tidmouth.

"Samson here, at your service. Here are your passengers." said Samson proudly.

Millie chuckled,

"Of course Samson. Thank you."

Samson grinned; he liked it when he was congratulated.

"Good bye now, and please do avoid the model volcano...it might scare you." Samson laughed.

Millie simply rolled her eyes.

"Oh that Samson."

"I'm still here you know." huffed Samson indignantly.

The groundsmen got out of the coaches, including Rob Durham with his trusty toolbox, and they climbed into Millie's coach.

"Come along," puffed Millie, "Those bushes really need to be pruned." and Millie puffed away, whistling loudly.

Samson was startled at the loud noise and puffed away.

Millie dropped off a few other workmen at the Dinosaur Park, and then puffed to an overgrown hedge that was starting to cover the tracks.

"Rob, the Earl says you trim this bush until it's off the line." said Millie.

"Of course, Millie. Let me just get my toolbox."

He went back into the coach to get his toolbox, which contained his clippers, his lunch, among other items.

"Hang on... something's missing!" cried Rob in alarm.

"Wait, what?" asked Millie.

"Yes, my clippers! Where are my clippers? I need those!" said Rob glumly.

Millie groaned.

"Oh, non! Those clippers must be found, immédiatement!"

Rob Durham went back the way he came, but the clippers weren't found anywhere.

"Oh dear!" he thought, "Those were my best clippers! Unless I forgot it at the hotel, but I swore I put it in my toolbox..."

He walked back to Millie.

"I'm sorry Millie, but you'll have to find it. I'll go notify the Earl; perhaps we can get Oliver to come with his claw and trim the bush...honestly, I can't think of any other options."

"In the meantime, I'll look around the estate and see if I can find it. You could go ahead and try cutting with your other tools if you can." Millie said.

"Alright, but it won't be as efficient." Rob sighed.

Millie whistled and puffed away urgently.

Millie rushed towards the Dinosaur Park, where Stephen was showing tourists the model dinosaurs.

"And this is a Stegosaurus. Impressive, isn't it?" Stephen chuckled.

"Ooooh." said the passengers.

Millie suddenly rushed in with urgency.

"Goodness gracious Millie, what's the rush?" asked Stephen.

"I can't seem to find Rob Durham's clippers!" wailed Millie, "Where are they?"

"It's possible he left them on Samson's train."

"Oh no!" cried Millie.

"Yeah, this is a problem." said Stephen worriedly, "Especially since Samson's heading back to the Mainland right now."

"_Now_?!" Millie cried in shock.

Stephen couldn't help chuckling.

"Where did you expect him to go? Mars?" he joked.

"This is no laughing matter Stephen! Come on, we must try and catch up to him!"

But Millie didn't get very far until Stephen brought up a strong point.

"Uh...you do know you're _narrow gauge_, don't you?" he said.

Millie blushed with embarrassment but was still determined.

"But we've got to get to Samson somehow!" cried Millie in despair.

Suddenly Connor pulled up with some passengers for Stephen.

"I think I can help." Connor said cheerfully.

Millie grinned.

"Oh, thank you Connor! You're just the engine! Can you go and catch up to Samson?"

"Of course! Samson is nothing compared to me!"

The passengers got on board Connor's coaches and the teal, fast engine scurried away.

Just as Connor puffed away, Nelson arrived with Oliver.

"Here's Oliver!" called Nelson, "Now if you excuse me, I have to get back to the yard. Goodbye!"

Oliver drove off his trailer and Nelson drove away, honking his horn.

"Now, I've got my claw fitted," said Oliver politely, "Where's the hedge?"

"I'll show you." puffed Millie, chuffing backwards as Oliver followed.

When they reached the hedge, Oliver couldn't help but grin.

"My, what a large hedge! I'll soon fix that!" and he set to work, grabbing leaves and putting them aside.

Rob Durham looked on, dismayed, as Oliver grabbed up a bunch of branches.

Meanwhile, Connor was out on the Main Line now, puffing past Maron Station.

"Woohoo!" Connor yelled as he raced past Jason.

"Goodness engine, lower your speed!" he huffed crossly.

Connor was going too fast to answer.

"Must catch up to Samson, must catch up to Samson." Connor puffed hastily; he didn't have to stop at any stations, so the trip was very fast.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" Connor said to himself, hurrying through Killdane.

"I must hurry before he reaches the Mainland. Otherwise things will get complicated." Connor thought.

Further down the line, Samson was waiting for a signal at Crovan's Gate.

"Hmph! Stupid signal!" grumbled Samson.

"Hello Samson." called Skarloey.

Samson looked over crossly.

"Hello Skarloey. Don't you just hate signals? I'd go past this stupid thing if I wanted to." he grunted.

Skarloey was stern.

"Signals are serious, Samson. You mustn't past a red signal. It's a good thing we have drivers, or else you'd cause havoc!"

"Pah! Not funny." huffed Samson.

"Why do you have coaches with you if don't have any passengers?" questioned Skarloey.

"I'm taking them back to the Mainland. See, I borrowed Mainland coaches. Look fancy, don't they?" Samson grinned. Skarloey rolled his eyes.

"I suppose you could say that..."

"Look at this paint! Glossy!"

Suddenly the signal went to green.

"Bye bye!" Samson chuffed as he wheeshed away.

Skarloey just sighed; a conversation with Samson that him got agitated wasn't out of the norm.

Connor was worried as he puffed through Kellsthorpe Road.

"I have to get there before he reaches the Vicarstown Bridge." Connor huffed.

His driver was worried.

"Connor, we're not racing anybody today!"

Connor chuckled.

"Technically we are." he said to himself, "I should really race Caitlin later. It's been a while."

Connor rushed through Crovan's Gate, surprising Skarloey.

"Bust my buffers! That engine sometimes!" he scoffed.

Samson continued along the line into Henry's Tunnel.

He hummed to himself as he puffed swiftly along the line.

Connor meanwhile was reaching to where Samson was.

"Samson! Samson!" Connor called.

"Huh?"

Samson looked behind him, and saw a teal engine race by.

"Bubbling boilers!" spluttered the cabless engine.

Connor realized he had gone too fast and missed Samson completely!

"Oh no!" Connor cried as he put on his brakes.

The passengers were surprised.

Up ahead was Vicarstown station, and Connor screeched to a halt at the platform.

"Oh dear!" groaned Connor, "I'm lucky I didn't get a wheel flat!"

A couple of passengers leaned out of their windows.

"What's the holdup?" grouched one, "I have to be with my wife for tea!"

Connor sighed, just as Samson puffed alongside.

"My, my, you must be full of yourself to go as fast as that." chuckled Samson, "It doesn't work on me. I'm still the fastest and strongest tank engine."

"Right..." huffed Connor, "Look Samson, I think you have Rob's clippers."

"Who?" asked Samson, clearly confused.

"Rob. Rob Durham. One of the Earl's most skilled groundsmen." explained Connor.

"Oh, him. So I have his clippers?" questioned Samson, "What's so special about that?"

"Yes, I'm afraid." said Connor meekly, "They're his best clippers."

Samson's driver looked through the coaches, and found something interesting on one of the seats.

"I think these are his clippers!" the driver said, walking out of the coach.

"Ugh, I have to go all the way back to the castle now?" groaned Samson, "All this for some stupid clippers too!"

"Nope! Instead somebody'll have to come all the way out here." said Connor.

"Well, not me. I have a deadline back to the Mainland." grunted Samson.

"I didn't say _you_ were going to do it." huffed Connor.

Just then Dave rolled up.

"Um, excuse me?" he asked politely, "I hate to break your conversation, but can I take the clippers back? I was just repaired at the Dieselworks, and I don't have any trains for the rest of today."

Connor grinned.

"Perfect! Are you fast?"

"For my class, I suppose." Dave chuckled.

Samson's driver handed Dave's driver the clippers and Dave oiled away.

Connor whistled and started off to the Mainland, as did Samson.

Dave oiled along the line light-engine back to Ulfstead Castle.

He rarely went anywhere without any trucks, and it felt refreshing to him.

"I never realized how heavy trucks were until now!" he chuckled.

Soon, he branched off of Maron and went onto the Ulfstead Branch Line.

At Ulfstead Castle, Oliver had finished off the hedge.

"Ta da! Looks amazing, now doesn't it?" he said proudly and, of course, politely. "

Thanks Oliver. Looks good." puffed Millie sadly.

"What's wrong?" asked Oliver, "I got the hedge fixed. Looks mighty nice."

"Rob. He's distraught that his clippers are missing." explained Millie.

Oliver frowned.

"Oh. Poor fellow."

"Indeed." agreed Millie when suddenly Dave's horn was heard in the distance.

"What's Dave doing here?" asked Stephen.

Dave grinned as he came to a halt.

The driver climbed down and showed everyone the clippers.

"Bust my buffers!" grinned Millie, "Thank you Dave!"

"Connor came through and caught up to Samson, and you brought it back all this way? Stunning!" agreed Stephen.

Dave chuckled.

"No problem."

Rob Durham walked up with a rake.

"I've been raking all day." he sighed, "but-"

He was cut short when he noticed Dave's driver with the clippers.

"My clippers!" Rob exclaimed happily and Dave's driver handed him the special tool.

"Thank you! I thought I forgot them when I got off the train, but I didn't think anything of it!" Rob grinned.

"Jolly well done!" agreed the Earl, who had walked up to the group, "Well Rob, you'll continue work as usual tomorrow. I think you deserve a rest and some tea inside. Please, do come in. We'll discuss things."

"Thank you, sir!" said Rob happily and the two men walked towards the castle.

The rest of the friends were happy for Rob Durham, and his special clippers.


End file.
